Monday, March 25, 2013

Stalin: Finishing what Lenin Started?

Since Lenin died unexpectedly, we cannot say with absolute certainty what he would have wanted for Russia, and whether Stalin accomplished it.  However, there are some commonalities between Stalin and Lenin's policies that are hard to shake--

What are some of the similarities that you notice between Lenin and Stalin's policies?  What do you make of some of his gradualist programs (so as to appease the proletariat, peasants, etc.), versus some of their more extreme measures (i.e. purges, elimination of the opposition, etc.).

13 comments:

  1. Based on the readings it can actually be quite difficult and quite easy to find similarities between Stalin and Lenin as well as whether or not Stalin truly fulfills Lenin's aspirations for Russia or if Stalin took Russia down his own course. For instance in the Stalin article"But it was thoroughly his bold assumption that Russia could be transformed into an industrial power by mobilizing every resource." compared to Lenin's political move that was neither "directly financial" nor did disseminate and reconstruct the core economic systems, its simple purpose was to encourage productivity. This a great example of one of the gradualist programs. While Stalin's more immediate and drastic transformative action would most likely fall in the extreme measures category. Personally i think that a good balance is all ways key, especially with politics. I feel that some of the extremes such as purging were in fact TOO extreme, but that is my personal opinion.

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  2. What stands out to me in the both of them is their combination of these gradualist and extremist policies to achieve an ultimate goal. Both leaders start off with a foundation of some kind of economic, collectivization program (NEP for Lenin and 5 year plan for stalin). Although these programs establish a level of success in Russia, opposition still exists. Both leaders rule with the iron fist and are not afraid to do anything in order to achieve their goal of an industrialized, efficient, socialist Russia. They then implement extreme measures such as purging to eliminate opposition and strengthen their rule. In my opinion, I am totally against these extreme measures, but if I am examining the time period and the goals of these leaders, I do agree that a bit of bloodshed had to occur to secure that much power. Just implementing gradualist policies may be successful at first, but there comes a time where the success levels off and there is nothing other to do than shift to a more extreme route.

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  3. I think Lenin and Stalin both had a deep respect and love for their country and the countries people. They put it on themselves to change Russia for the betterment of the people. They also both had similar plans. Lenin's NEP and Stalin's 5 year plan were almost intertwining. They were also extremists as Nicki said above, and as a communist leader you must be. In order to fully plan out your communist plan, you have to totally trust it. Also, I think Communism is a form of extremism. All in all, these two men were extremely brave and strong. They had many important people trust them and if they had the opportunity to work together, Russia would never be the same.

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  4. Without a doubt, Stalin and Lenin both wanted what they saw was best for their country. They both had plans to move the country forward, just in different directions; Stalin's 5 year plan was to industrialize and Lenin's NEP was to stabalize the economy. Both Stalin and Lenin eliminated opposition and believed in extreme punishments for opposition. One thing that stands out the most is their leadership skills: using what they think is best for the people in order to persuade them. I think extreme measures were a little uneccassary. This raises the question: Would you rather have eveyone dilike you as a leader because of extreme measures, or would you prefer to be liked by everyone?

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  5. I think that Lenin wanted what was best for the country and used his influence and power to achieve that goal. Lenin used the NEP to help right the economy after so much upheaval. I think that Stalin also wanted what was best for Russia, however I also think that he reveled in the power he had, he got drunk on the power and it tainted his rule of Russia in a very extreme way. This power caused him to kill tens of millions of his own people because they were 'enemies of the state' or 'threat to the security of the people'. In my opinion Stalin was not a great leader, but led his people to believe he was by using a amazing system of propaganda much like Hitler did. To me Stalin was much more like Hitler that Lenin. Extremism rarely works and that is exhibited by Stalin and how he set Russia on a downward spiral.

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  6. Both Stalin and Lenin both did what they thought would better the country. Their plans were different but I feel fairly similar in terms of what they wanted to achieve out of them. This is referring to Stalin's 5 year plan and Lenin's NEP.
    Both of their leadership roles spoke about their character. They both wanted to appear strong which helped them both with their public image and political.

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  7. Lenin and Stalin's differing policies where a result of completely different agendas. Lenin's was working towards achieving the ideal communist state. Stalin was trying to consolidate power and his actions reflect that. They were all meant to give him individual power. Lenin was simply trying to gain power in order to further his vision of the party.

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  8. Although what I am about to mention is not a comparison of their policies, it still connects with the rest of the blog. In the previous article, I remember Stalin being described as "more rude" than Lenin, or something like that. This is interesting because their policies, as basically everyone before me stated, share several commonalities such as obtaining a foundation and "de-legitamizing" the people, although they had different agendas. However, Stalin was much more extremist in his policies and went as far as to kill millions of Russians who seemed threatening to the stabilization of their country.

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  9. I think that both lenin and Stalin had to use gradualism and extremism in order to Accomplish those goals. Lenin used the NEP and Stalin used the five year plan in order to ease the Russian people into their plans for industrialization and plans to improve agriculture. The peasantry was very hesitant when introduced to the new machinery and the new techniques. They didn't want to let go of the ways in which their families had farmed and worked for decades. But i think that in order for Lenin's and Stalin's plan to take full form, they needed to say hell with the consequences and go after what they needed to be done. the purges and the elimination of the opposition are two examples of how these leaders needed to rule with an iron fist in order to get something down. Sometimes the country needs an leader who doesn't care about anything else then what he/she needs to get down, not the consequences, not the political BS, and not what might fail because when running a nation Failure is not an option.

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  10. I found it a bit difficult to find many similarities between the two. Being said that, I did find that they both sound to be incredibly nationalistic. They want the best for their country. They both start with some sort of beginning programs ( for lenin, it was the NEP and for Stalin, it was the five year program). These gave way to new programs and more beneficial ideas for their country. But their basic agendas were quite different, Stalin was only looking to maintain his power, while I think that Lenin was really looking to improve his country. But I think that their way of doing these actions were similar. They both led with no hesitation and with immense power.

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  11. What first popped into my mind was that to some extend, Lenin and Stalin were both men of deed. They both had big plans for Russia and were ready to give everything. They wanted to bring their country forward. I had the documentary in mind when they told about Everyone being happy about the fall of tsar niclas and Lenin was not resting a minute and prepared the next revolution. It reminds me of the extreme outgoing way Stalin took over after Lenin's death. Of course, Stalin's five point plan and Lenins NEP can also eb considered very simular tools of politics, but It seems to me that they were similar in character also.

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  12. It's undeniable that those two great figures were fighting for the best of the country in their own ways, Lenin, did not make radical great purges like Stalin did due to his fascinating prestige i think. Stalin, who is "Rude" according to Lenin, seems to be more aggressive and ambitious to fulfill his destine to put his hands on hardcore, radical, collective, economy and agricultural policies, i not surprising that he's got more opponents and was not as well respected as Lenin was since events like the great purges and elimination of foes. I think the existence of those radical move is to protect the rate of progress of programs like five year plan.

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  13. both Lenin and Stalin wanted similar things such as the leveling off of wealth but both took exceedingly different directions to get there. Stalin wanted things done quickly, he was more willing to kill those in his way to get there. But, both lenin and stalin did their best to maintain an image among their people. Lenin's statues and face was everywhere, as was Stalin's. but stalin took more dramatic action when it came to maintaining this image, i can't help but think of the scene in Europa, Europa when candy rains from the ceiling.
    (side note: please don't count this late, i had passover last night and couldn't do it until now)

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